Otterblog

Today is already shaping up to be a bear. Wachovia is being bought by Citigroup, and that will have huge ramifications for North Carolina and Winston-Salem. More on that later, as it gets fleshed out.

I’ve been thinking about our political coverage and its presentation. On Saturday, 20,000 people showed up in Greensboro at a rally for Sen. Barack Obama. That’s front-page news, and I don’t need to apologize for or explain our placement decisions. We talk about these things constantly, and we always note that if McCain comes to the state we’ll do the same for him. But here’s the rub: McCain hasn’t come to North Carolina so far. His last visit was during the primary, and it was for a talk at WFU. I haven’t talked with the McCain staff on their decision, but my guess about what’s going on is as follows: He thinks North Carolina is safely in his column, that it may be close, but close doesn’t matter in the electoral college. You win North Carolina by 1 vote or 1 million and the result is the same: 15 electoral votes.
That said, campaign rallies by definition are partisan events, and it’s hard to write about any politician’s rally without giving them some boost (It may fire up opponents as well.). So, there’s the appearance that we are covering the Obama campaign more kindly and generously. There’s no good way out of this. To ignore the Obama rallies seems petty. He’s here, after all, and the reasons why he’s here are politically intriguing. He’s trying to be the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter to win North Carolina…
The best tactic to me is the one we’ve been doing. Cover the events, and be prepared for the McCain-Palin campaign.